Pakistan party’s tiger mascot is ‘alive and well’

Politicians pull all sorts of crazy stunts to distract voters from the serious issues when they're running for office. But Pakistan election candidate Nawaz Sharif may take the cake for best political stunt: a live tiger.

However, the stunt appeared to backfire horribly when local media reported yesterday that the tiger had died. The alleged cause? A strenuous campaigning schedule.

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Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz had been bringing the white tiger to rallies because a tiger is the symbol for Sharif's political party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Sources had told Pakistani news site Dawn.com yesterday that the tiger was brought unconscious to a vet hospital Tuesday evening, where doctors failed to revive the animal.

But now, BBC News is on the scene and reports that the tiger isn't dead, after all. The BBC says it saw the tiger, or at least a tiger, in a den, looking "alive and well."

The World Wildlife Fund remains suspicious. "If that tigress is still well and alive, why don't they bring it over or send fresh pictures to the WWF?" a WWF official asked the BBC.